Letter to me from the Corn Refiner's Association

April 28, 2009 4:27:53 AM PDT

We read the April 14 article "You should consider eating organic," with interest. Unfortunately, the suggestion that high fructose corn syrup is not natural is misleading. We would like to provide you with science-based information on this safe sweetener and be a reference for you for future articles.

High fructose corn syrup is naturalHigh fructose corn syrup contains no artificial or synthetic ingredients or color additives and meets the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's requirements for use of the term "natural." Please see the attached letter from the FDA dated July 3, 2008.

Confusion between pure fructose and high fructose corn syrupMany confuse scientific research about distinctly different sweeteners, treating studies involving pure fructose as if they involved high fructose corn sweetener, which they do not. Peer reviewed research has shown that high fructose corn syrup and sugar are handled similarly by the body and have similar metabolic effects.

High fructose corn syrup is compositionally similar to sucroseHigh fructose corn syrup, sugar, and several fruit juices are all nutritionally the same.

Like sugar, honey and some fruit juices, high fructose corn syrup contains almost equal portions of fructose and glucose. As noted by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1996, "the saccharide composition (glucose to fructose ratio) of HFCS is approximately the same as that of honey, invert sugar and the disaccharide sucrose (or table sugar)." (61 Fed. Reg. 43447 (August 23, 1996), 21 C.F.R. 184.1866. Direct food substances affirmed as Generally Recognized as Safe; High Fructose Corn Syrup - Final Rule.)

Dr. Marion Nestle, Paulette Goddard Professor of Nutrition, Food Studies, and Public Health at New York University and author of "What to Eat" and "Food Politics" told the Spokesman Review "HFCS is glucose and fructose separated. Table sugar is glucose and fructose stuck together, but quickly separated by digestive enzymes. ? The body can hardly tell them apart." (Lamberson C. January 2, 2008. "High-fructose corn syrup may be the next target" Spokesman Review.)

To read the latest research and learn more about high fructose corn syrup, please visit www.SweetSurprise.com. Please feel free to contact me if you would like additional information about the products made from corn.